to Chicago that we in Baltimore have suffered in the shadow of bigger neighboring cities.

Every time I got on a bus or walked into a restaurant last week some local Hoosier would ask me if I’d ever been to Indy before – like it was Beijing or Timbuktu, which it very well might’ve been had Irsay pointed the Mayflowers in the direction of Phoenix or Memphis or Azirona or Jacksonville (another place where the whole NFL thing hasn’t really worked out).

And people are so freaking NICE – it’s bizarre.

And they’re all as ashamed of stealing the team they way they did under the dark of night via Bob Irsay. The FIRST thing 90% of them have said when I tell them I’m from Baltimore is this:

“We NEVER should’ve taken the name and the horseshoe…”

And all week, everyone was trained to say: “Have a SUPER day!”

Ah, “Hoosier Hospitality” was the theme and I’ve begun to embrace it. I’m done with the angst of Indianapolis and I’ve now seen what it’s all about – and I get to experience that same joy as an NFL fan here in Baltimore as a PSL holder and “off the boat” card carrier for the Baltimore Ravens and their own purple greatness.

Out of the darkness of the night and Mayflowers have indeed come “May flowers.”

And they’re blooming in Indianapolis.

I saw the garden with my own eyes and it’s real.

I only wish Lee Evans would’ve held onto that ball or Billy Cundiff would’ve made that kick or John Harbaugh’s would’ve called that timeout.

You would’ve liked what you would’ve seen in Indianapolis last week. And everyone in Indy would’ve been pulling for the Baltimore Ravens.

And we would’ve won that Super Bowl championship and Joe Flacco would’ve held that trophy to the sky flanked by Ray Lewis and Ed Reed and Terrell Suggs and Baltimore’s own LaQuan Williams and there would’ve been a parade here this week.

But, alas, that wasn’t meant to be.

But what a sight it would’ve been!

I’ll never get to see it but I have a pretty clear picture of what that would’ve looked like.

And once, again, Indianapolis would’ve been at the heart of the Baltimore storyline.